As well as 16 individual district and county councils, this year sees two local authority partnerships – of councils in Cambridgeshire as well as councils in Suffolk – still in the running for Beacon status.
” The panel was very impressed by the range of innovative approaches to creating or improving services, which really make a difference to people's lives.“
– Marianne Hood, advisory panel on Beacon councils
Among the councils named on the shortlist are Lichfield district council, which achieved the highest recycling rate by an English council in 2003/04, and Daventry district council – which achieved the same feat in 2002/03.
Three London boroughs are also included – Bexley, Greenwich and Sutton – while the North of England is well-represented despite having a reputation for generally poorer recycling performances.
This is the seventh round of Beacon awards, which are run by the government's cross-department local authority best practice unit, IDeA, to highlight best practice across a range of council services.
Shortlist
The full shortlist for the Waste and Recycling category of round seven of the beacon's scheme was as follows:
- Cambridgeshire County Council (Lead) with Cambridge city council, East Cambridgeshire district council, Fenland district council, Huntingdonshire district council, Peterborough city council and South Cambridgeshire district council
- Daventry district council
- East Hampshire district council
- Harborough district council
- Isle of Wight council
- Kirklees Metropolitan borough council
- Lancashire county council
- Lichfield district council
- London borough of Bexley
- London borough of Greenwich
- London borough of Sutton
- Nottinghamshire county council
- Preston city council
- Redcar & Cleveland council
- Rushcliffe borough council
- South Hams district council
- Stockport metropolitan borough council
- Suffolk County Council (Lead), with Babergh district council, Forest Heath district council, Mid Suffolk district council, Ipswich borough council, St Edmundsbury borough council, Suffolk Coastal district council, Waveney district council
The shortlisted contenders will now progress to the next stage of the selection process, which will include site visits and presentations. Beacon status will then be awarded to the successful authorities in March 2006.
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Marianne Hood, chair of the advisory panel on Beacon councils, said; “I am delighted with the number of high quality applications we received from authorities in round seven of the scheme. The panel was very impressed by the range of innovative approaches to creating or improving services, which really make a difference to people's lives.”
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